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Mount long-timers celebrate 50 years of varied service

Fr. Kevin E. Mackin, OFM, (standing) at the Mount’s May 2013
commencement, with speakers James Patterson, best-selling author;
and William Kaplan, entrepreneur and philanthropist. Photo by Lee
Ferris.

Three dedicated members of the Mount Saint Mary College
community recently reached an impressive milestone: half a century
of service.

English professor James Finn Cotter has tendered committed
service to the college since 1963.

He co-wrote the Mount’s alma mater. He is the former chair of
arts and letters. And he’s touched the minds and hearts of
countless students.

It’s all in a day’s work for Cotter.

“I take things one day at a time, each class at a time,” he
explained.

Cotter taught at Fordham University in New York City during the
early ‘60s, before he began teaching at the Mount.

Of the Newburgh, NY home where he has lived for the past 50
years: “I had planned on just renting it,” Cotter explained.

The professor has been one of only two people to lead the
Mount’s 50 Commencement processions, the other being professor
emeritus Jim McEnery of Cornwall, NY. Cotter has also been master
of ceremonies since 1964, when the Mount graduated its first
class.

“It’s always fun to see the students, who are so happy to be
graduating,” explained the professor.

In 1970, Cotter was awarded a Fulbright-Hays
Lectureship at the University of Oran in Algeria, where he taught
courses in American authors and the modern American novel, and
traveled through France, Spain, Morocco, and Tunisia.

Around that time, Cotter also earned a National Endowment for
the Humanities grant to spend a summer working on Hopkins’
articles. Out of this project, the manuscript for his book
“Inscape: The Christology and Poetry of Gerald Manley Hopkins” was
born.

“Faith has been a great part of my experience here,” Cotter
explained. “After my father’s death, I started to reexamine my own
priorities and religion – that was in 1973 – I started to go to
mass here every morning.”

Right: James Finn Cotter, circa the 1960s.

Since then, the professor has cultivated “wonderful friendships”
with the Mount’s chaplains over the years, including the current
chaplain and director of campus ministry, Fr. Francis Amodio,
O.Carm.

Cotter says his legacy is what he and his coworkers have done to
strengthen Mount Saint Mary College.

“I certainly hope that the Mount continues to thrive,” he
said.

He thanked college president Fr. Kevin E. Mackin, OFM, and
former president Sr. Ann Sakac, OP, for “their excellent
leadership.” Cotter also applauded the efforts of local businessman
and philanthropist William Kaplan, whose donations to the college
have made possible major improvements to Aquinas Hall and the
Dominican Center.

For Cotter, whose work is his passion, there’s no end in sight
to his illustrious career.

“I enjoy teaching very much,” he said. “I like the students, and
I have a lot who have signed up over the years who are not English
majors. They are there because they want to write, and I am here
because I want to teach.”

Cotter’s colleague and friend, communications
professor Sr. Catherine Walsh, OP, recently celebrated five decades
as a Dominican Sister of Hope, a community in the worldwide
Catholic Order of Preachers (OP).

“It’s a life that has its challenges, just like any other life,”
revealed Sr. Walsh. “But I can only remember the rewards.”

Left: Sr. Catherine Walsh, OP, communications professor at
Mount Saint Mary College (center), recently celebrated her Golden
Jubilee of entrance into the Sisters of Saint Dominic. A special
mass was held at the Mount’s Founders Chapel. Pictured at right is
James Finn Cotter, professor of English, and to the left is Fr.
Francis Amodio, O.Carm., Mount chaplain and director of campus
ministry.

During her postulant year in 1963, Sr. Walsh lived on campus in
Guzman Hall, taking college courses (she earned her bachelor’s
degree in 1970) and learning more about the faith.

“To use a cliché, nothing has ever been the same,” she said. “As
a group of young sisters, we laughed; we cried; we became fast
friends; we loved the religious congregation.”

With her new role came more than a few surprises, Sr. Walsh
explained.

“I was fascinated by what I didn’t know about religious life,
including study, prayer, and other responsibilities,” she said.
“One of my surprises was how warm the veil got, but how comfortable
the habit was.”

During her half century with the Dominican Sisters, Sr. Walsh
saw many changes: in religion, politics, and even in the way she
and other nuns dressed. As the years went on, several of her peers
left the religious life.

Sr. Walsh, however, never wavered.

“I believe in the religious life,” she said. “I find the four
pillars of Dominican life very enriching.”

The pillars are:

Study: “Study is a deeper way of understanding life,” said Sr.
Walsh. “Study is the soul of our mission of preaching.”

Prayer: “Prayer in community and reflection on the gospel is the
source of our truth seeking,” Sr. Walsh explained. “We are called
to deepen our relationship with our God and then to be the
incarnational presence of that God in the service we give.”

Service: “The ability to grow and give all kinds of service is a
gift to me,” she said. “I love teaching.”

Community: “I live with four fabulous women,” Sr. Walsh
explained. “They have been instrumental in helping me grow as a
person. Living in a community, you learn your shortcomings, and
they help you grow as a leader and a person.”

After teaching seventh grade at St. Mary’s of the Assumption in
Deal, NJ and St. Mary’s School in Poughkeepsie, NY, Sr. Walsh
taught seventh grade at Bishop Dunn Memorial School in Newburgh,
where she would eventually become principal.

Sr. Walsh began teaching part time at Mount Saint
Mary College in 1983, and took on her communications role in 1985.
She departed in 1991, and for four years, was part of the
leadership team of the Dominican Sisters of Newburgh. In 1995, she
became the first prioress of the Dominican Sisters of Hope.

The consolidation of three branches of Dominican Sisters –
Newburgh, NY, Ossining, NY, and Fall River, MA – had been in the
works since 1988. As prioress, it was Sr. Walsh’s responsibility to
help meld the traditions of the three branches into something new,
yet familiar.

“It was a process,” she explained. “We had to help three
cultures become one. We had to find new ways of doing things, like
celebrating jubilees, and finances. We weren’t just making policy
decisions, we were changing lives.”

The key to good leadership, she said, was “constant
communication among all of the councilors and myself.”

Right: Sr. Catherine Walsh, OP, in her habit, circa the early
1970s.

Sr. Walsh returned to teaching at the Mount in the year
2000.

As she continued instructing future generations, Sr. Walsh noted
that her own education is never-ending.

“It is with deep joy and gratitude that I celebrate 50 years of
learning to be a Dominican,” said Sr. Walsh. “It’s a
privilege.”

Cotter and Sr. Walsh are in good company: Fr. Kevin E. Mackin,
OFM, the fifth president of Mount Saint Mary College, was ordained
a priest five decades ago.

He has served as president of the college for nearly six years,
and as a Franciscan friar, professor, and executive for more than
50 years, including 11 years as president of Siena College where he
holds the title of president emeritus.

Fr. Mackin will be stepping down as president after the
conclusion of the 2013-14 academic year.

“I have had great joy serving at the Mount,” said the esteemed
educator.

Fr. Mackin led the Mount in its first five-year strategic plan,
hired faculty strategically, and improved institutional practice,
while increasing applications for enrollment and expanding academic
offerings, including a physician assistant program now taking
applications.

Like Cotter, Fr. Mackin praised the efforts of longtime Mount
Saint Mary College supporter William Kaplan for his work on the
campus and at the Newburgh Armory.

Under Fr. Mackin’s direction, the college launched “A Call to
Excellence: The Campaign for the Dominican Center” in 2012, to
raise $10 million for the transformation to a new, truly
state-of-the-art library and living-learning environment.

“Students and faculty/staff are absolutely thrilled with the
opportunity the Dominican Center presents,” said Fr. Mackin.

Read more about the procession to the Dominican Center and the
latest about the Mount in the Mount Saint Mary College Magazine at
magazine.msmc.edu